Aftermarket Deck & Power Antenna... Haha, I know...

[Rayde]

I know I'm asking for a lot, but here goes:

My car came with an aftermarket Deck & amp, driving the original (that i know of) speakers. The power antenna doesn't work now, not surprisingly.

I have a Sirius Satellite Radio i'll be using soon, so i'm wondering:

1) if i need my antenna working for the satellite radio to have high quality sound, or function for that matter; and

2) if not, could i disconnect the antenna altogether and remove it from the car? perhaps get a filler plug or something for the hole in the fender? or maybe get a different antenna to replace the power one there now?

The stereo does pick up faint, static ridden radio stations now (the area i live in, doesn't have great radio reception anyway, and only 1 channel, hence the Sirius radio going in there).

Also, would it be more beneficial to attempt to wire a toggle switch on the stock antenna, or get an aftermarket one?

 

[Case75]

The Sirius will need it's own little puck antenna.

Do you have an aux input jack to plug the Sirius into the deck? Otherwise you will have to use the Sirius radio's FM transmitter to send the signal to the deck over an FM frequency. If no aux input then you can get a little adapter that allows you to plug into the deck's antenna port. I've used all three methods in past vehicles. I now have a vehicle wired from the factoy with Sirius and it is the best way to go.

 

[Rayde]

There is an aux jack on the stereo, i use it to play music from my android phone. I have the Sirius Stratus vehicle kit, just now discovered the "audio out" jack on the radio dock. That's much better than messing with the FM transmitter, thanks.

I'm still wondering if the factory power antenna could be used with the deck.

 

[HLN A55]

Just remember. FM transmitters give you.... FM sound quality.

 

[Riley P]

Good question on the antenna. I don't know how it's supposed to know the power is on on the radio and if that activates a relay to provide power to the antenna. Hopefully someone can chime in. I am interested to hear about this.

 

[HLN A55]

There is an amp trigger line and also an antennae line out on the deck. In the old days, we used the power antennae out to trigger on the amp(s) as most decks didn't have a separate amp trigger nor did many cars have power antennae. The line receives a signal that the deck is on rather than off with constant and switched power going to it.

 

[Rayde]

So chances are my power antenna wire is either unplugged, or the antenna itself is bad?

I have an alpine deck, fwiw. Aux in, all digital fade/balance/sub/treb/bass/etc control... looks fairly new.

 

[HLN A55]

If I had to lay odds, I'd pull the deck just to look, should be pretty easy if you have the removal "keys" for it. You just push them in to the front of the deck after you uncover the slots for them by taking off the trim plate around the deck. .. But my bet is probably a bum power antenna motor. Cables just don't unplug themselves. Either that or (and I don't know what ur familiarity is with your cars history), the trigger for the antenna may have been used to remote on/off your amps (if you have any) and that's why you're not getting your antenna to work properly. The easiest fix is to probably just remove the power antenna and go with a shorty stationary one.

I'm assuming you have good radio reception of course.

 

[Rayde]

I don't have the key for it... I've looked all over the car. Glove box, console, etc... Car came with the HU & amp. It's powering a 700w 5 channel kicker amp.

Am i able to determine my wiring/connection situation, antenna/amp wise, without the keys? Or, would you know if they can be purchased separately? I apologize for the pile of questions, I am not terribly familiar with car wiring.

What is involved with replacing the powered antenna with a stationary one, is there a special type i need, or will any universal length give me reception?

 

[HLN A55]

"The keys" are thin strips of metal or rods that unlock the deck from the frame that holds it into the dash. I wouldn't try to take the deck out without them unless you want your dash and radio to look like someone tried to steal it LOL. That being said, any shop that sells your brand should be able to lend you a set or even give you one. They come with every radio so there are tons of them.

There really is now way to determine the wiring configuration without seeing the hook up. It's like trying to find a water leak behind a wall without putting a hole in it to look around first.

If you are not familiar with much of what we are talking about, that's ok, I would suggest you just take your car to a reputable radio shop and get them to take care of the issue. Nothing we are talking about here is very costly.

 

[Rayde]

I finally got around to poking around a little further with the power antenna situation, kind of.

The deck I have is an Alpine CDE-9874, wiring diagram found here, on page 28 of the PDF document.

The 3rd connection shown on this page is for Remote Turn-On for amp, and a seperate one for the power antenna.

I haven't gotten to pulling the deck just yet, I might tackle that tomorrow (the idea of tearing into electrical wiring is a tad daunting in my mind, but, oh well). This tells me that either something is plugged in the wrong spot, or the antenna is no good.

Is there any relatively easy method to test the antenna motor, without depending on the deck to operate it? Or, can I trust that the deck is doing it's job, and I can go ahead and spring for a new antenna? Maybe put a test light on the amp-out connection on the back of the deck, to make sure there's electricity there?

Thanks for all the help, fellas.

 

[CCO]

Hmmm interesting discussions about decks and power antennae -- I know another that may need some work.

C.

 

[Riley P]

Can you see the wiring to the antenna? I would imagine with a test light and the amp on there should be power at the antenna if you ground out the test light at the input on the antenna. Maybe you could even ground out the ground side of the antenna to see if power is going through the antenna. This should tell you that your ground isn't good.....(that is, if the wiring is as basic as I hope it is...)